Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse: Free Comic Book Day 2007

As is the case with any character who’s around for decades, there have been hundreds (if not thousands) of writers and artists who have touched upon the classic Disney characters. Carl Barks, Don Rosa, William Van Horn… those are some names most often associated with the ducks. On the mouse side of the Disney comics, there are few creators with such a wealth of great work as the late Floyd Gottfredson, who worked on newspaper strips and comics for nearly 45 years. To honor Gottfredson‘s induction into the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Hall of Fame, Gemstone‘s FCBD offering this year is a reprint of one of his classic newspaper stories, “The Robin Hood Adventure.” What begins with a simple attempt to imrpove his garden winds up with Mickey being shrunk down to a size where he can fall into a storybook and go on adventures with Robin Hood himself. The story is wonderfully reminiscent of the classic cartoon short “Mickey in Wonderland” — fantastic, classic and a great deal of fun. The book also includes Gottfredson‘s “Mickey’s Rival,” the short story which introduced his long-time competitor for Minnie’s affections, Mortimer Mouse. Generally speaking, I like the stories of the Disney ducks better than the mice, but any time Gottfredson‘s name appears, fans know they’re in for a classic tale.